Adorable Vampire : Duelist
by Fragments of Imagination
Summary: [Sequel of Adorable Vampire - Edited] After 3000 years had passed, The Millennium Puzzle once again returned to Yugi's hand, and Yugi found himself sharing a body with the spirit of his Daddy. With many people from the past reborn to the present, what kind of adventure Yugi will face this time? (Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. Character might be OOC. Don't like, don't read)
1. Prologue : When It's All Began

Chapter 1

**Disclaimer : I Don't own Yu Gi Oh!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

'_Telepathic Voice'_

"_Spirit Talking"_

-Telephone-

Letter

"Dialogue"

**Emphasis**

_**Dangerous Tone**_

_**Prologue : When It's All Began**_

**1973, in a bar in Egypt.**

"Have you heard?"

"What?"

"Well, you know, there's this strange man going to the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb wearing a tux."

"Oh, that. Yeah, I heard about it, strange man indeed."

A tanned young man with unique three colored hair, with black at the base and turned amethyst at the tips and blond bangs, halted his movement just as he was about to drink his wine. The young man furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at the gossiping pair near him with his enchanting amethyst eyes, _Nameless Pharaoh's tomb? Isn't that what people called Daddy's tomb?_ He thought before standing up and left the bar after paying his bill, he silently made his way to an empty alleyway as he pondered about what he had heard, _No one dares to enter the tomb anymore after so many had died trying, so why now? Why after 3000 years someone dare to enter Daddy's tomb again? . . . and wearing a tux, really?_

He looked up at the moon as he let his form changed into that of a small boy with pale skin and the same eye color, his hair took a shape of a star while maintaining it's three colors. "I better check it out." He mumbled to himself as a pair of black colored bat-like wings grew from his back, his nails sharpened into claws and his pupils slitted like cat's eyes. He unfoled his wings and took off to the night sky, confusion and curiosity filled his heart as he flew to the direction of the Nameless Pharaoh's tomb.

XXXXX

**1973, Valley of The Kings, Egypt**

"The KA occupying those stone tablets will decide your judgement. The cowards will see their souls eaten. The valorous will be shown the path." A man around 40 years old wearing a black tux read the Hieroglyphs that was written on the wall beside the entrance to the next part of the tomb, his spiky grey hair was covered by a black round hat.

He entered through the entrance with another man pointing a gun at his back, each of them carrying a torch so they could see their surroundings. Once inside, they look around before the man carrying the gun noticed something, "Look, there!" he said to the man with the tux.

Mutou Sugoroku looked ahead to see what was it that caught the other man's attention, there was a bridge ahead of them, at the end of the bridge was something similar to an altar, and on top of the altar was a box made of gold with the symbol of Eye of Horus engraved to the box could be seen in their direction.

"There's no doubt, the treasure is inside." The man with the gun continued before pointing the gun at Sugoroku's back again, "Go forward! Hurry up!" he ordered.

Sugoroku glanced at him for a second before walking forward towards the box, _What is this feeling?_ Sugoroku thought to himself as he stopped for a short moment in front of the bridge, which was made from many stone tablets with picture of monsters on them. He looked at the tablets in confusion, _It's like I was already here before . . ._

"What's the matter?" The man asked impatiently, making Sugoroku looked at him, "Go forward, hurry up!" he repeated his order from before.

Sugoroku looked ahead again ans started walking across the bridge, _A little more . . ._ he thought to himself as he walk, _A little more and I would have triumphed over this legendary game._ But even as he continued to walk, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had already been there before.

Suddenly, a sound of a gun being shot reached his ears before a searing pain make itself known at his left shoulder, the pain make him dropped his torch and fell off the bridge due to him losing his balance from pain. Fortunately, he was fast enough to catch the edge of the bridge with his right hand.

The man who shot Sugoroku walked on the bridge and stopped on the spot directly above him, "You defied the Game of Darkness! You won't have any regrets if you die!" The man announced with a smirk to Sugoroku.

"You . . ." Sugoroku managed to say through clenched teeth.

"I'll keep going alone now." The man said before continuing his way to the golden box, "Now, the treasure is mine!" He said greedily before he felt a shake beneath him, he looked down to see a picture of a monster in front of him. He felt nervous when he saw it, but shrugged it off and started walking again, but just as he stepped on the picture, a monster appeared in front of him, the same on with the picture he stepped on.

The man screamed when the monster grabbed him, but his scream was cut short by the monster eating him alive.

Sugoroku was oblivious to what just happened to the man, due to his concentration focused on how to keep his grip on the bridge, for he know that it's impossible for him to climb up by himself. He gritted his teeth when his hand started losing it's grip, "To have come up to here and . . . have it end like this . . .?" He asked himself in regret, his vision was starting to blur due to the pain and him losing blood.

He narrowed his eyes when a light appeared out of nowhere, he looked up expecting to see the man who shot him come back to finish him off, but what he saw was a tanned figure with three colors hair in the shape of a star with black at the base turned Crimson at the tips completed with blond bangs, which some of them shot up in the shape of lightning bolts.

Sugoroku's eyes widened at the sight of the young man clad in jewelry before narrowing again in exhaustion, the young man knelt on one knee and offered his hand to him with his sharp Crimson eyes looking directly at Sugoroku's.

"_Matteru yo, Shimon." (I was waiting for you, Shimon)_

The young man's echoing voice was what Sugoroku heard before he lost his consciousness.

He came back to consciousness when he felt something wrapped to his shoulder, "Ah, you are awake." Someone spoke from above him. He looked up to see a blur figure of a boy with the similar hair style with the young man he saw before passing out, this boy was pale skin though instead of tanned, and much younger than the one he saw earlier.

"Who are you?" Sugoroku asked when he could feel himself losing consciousness again.

The boy looked at Sugoroku, "Yugi." He answered shortly with a smile before Sugoroku lost his consciousness once again.

One thing he remembered seeing before he blacked out this time though, was the boy's warm eyes, with violet color as beautiful as Amethyst gem.

XXXXX

**1990, An Alleyway in Domino, Japan**

_The world really change so much, huh?_ A boy with the appearance of a 6 years old kid thought as he gazed upon Domino City, _The last time I come here, and it's just two centuries ago, the city wasn't this big_.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Yugi." A low voice said, he turned around to see a man around 30 years old walking to him, he has a long dark brown hair tied in ponytail and a pair of Emerald Green eyes. "There's a sudden mission, have you wait long?".

"Nah, don't worry about it, Yuuya." Yugi answered with a grin.

Yuuya grinned, "Here, your files." He said as he handed the big brown envelopes to Yugi.

"Thank you." Yugi said as he put the envelope in his backpack before pulling out a small box, he offered the box to the man, "For Mia, she turned 10 tomorrow, right?" he asked.

Yuuya's eyes widened, "Why, Mia would be very happy." He said as he accepted the box, "I will give this to her tomorrow".

Yugi nodded, "Okay then." He said as he wore his backpack again, "See you again sometime, Yuuya!" He said cheerfully before running to his Mansion's direction.

"I wonder what should I get for Lunch?" Yugi asked himself as he walked, but then he saw a game shop with Kame Game written on the sign. "Hm, I wonder if there's a good Card here?" he asked himself with a grin before he walked to the shop and entered.

"Welcome to Kame Game shop." A voice greeted him, he blinked when he thought that he had heard the voice somewhere before, when he looked up, he was greeted by the sight of an old man with spiky grey hair and a pair of violet eyes.

_Shimon! _Yugi thought with wide eyes.

The old man's eyes widened as well, "Yugi." He said in disbelief, "You are Yugi, right?".

Yugi gulped, "We meet again." He said softly with a nervous smile, "Never thought you would recognize me so easily".

XXXXX

**1992, London, England**

"Ryou, what are you looking at?" A woman with white hair and warm brown eyes asked a boy with the same white hair like her and also the same brown eyes as her.

The 8 years old boy turned away from the Ice Cream stand to look at the woman, "I'm looking at that Ice Cream stand." He answered with a smile, "Can I go buy some, Mom?" He asked as he tilted his head cutely with a wide smile.

The woman smiled warmly, "Of course." She said as she pulled out some money, "I had to stay here and wait in line to buy our movie tickets or we would have to get to the very back again, could you buy it by yourself?" She asked with apologetic smile.

Ryou nodded, "Yes, Mom, I can." He answered as he accepted the hand, he looked at the girl with white hair and grey eyes, "Which do you want, Akane? Strawberry Sundae or Chocolate Sundae?" He asked with a wide smile.

"Strawberry!" His 4 years old Sister chirped happily from his Mother's arms.

Ryou smiled and nodded before take off to the Ice Cream stand, he told the man who sell the Ice Cream that he would have one Strawberry Sundae and one Chocolate Sundae. The man put the two Sundae in two separate cups and closed it before putting them into a plastic bag, Ryou paid for the Sundaes and accepted the plastic bag with a big grin. "Thank you!" Ryou said to the man.

"You are welcome, Sweet boy." The man answered with a grin as well.

Ryou turned around and started walking back to the Movie Theater's direction, halfway through the street, he heard a shout from above him.

"Watch out!"

Ryou looked up to see what happened and froze, his eyes widened when he saw many pipes from construction site coming down straight to him. He felt like the time has stopped as he looked at the falling pipes, everything moves in a very slow motion as something entered his mind.

"_Thank you, Your Majesty. I hope with this our two Countries would stay in good term." He said as he shaking his hand with the man with black hair and Emerald Green eyes._

"_Throw away the formality, Ryo." The man said with a grin, "There's no need to be so formal to your own Brother-in-law, right?" He asked cheerfully._

_Ryo grinned, "Sure, Duke." He answered, "I will head back to Japan now, tell Maya that I will visit again when I have time"._

"_No problem!" Duke replied with a thumb up, "Have a safe trip, Ryo. Don't strain yourself so much and be careful on your way home"._

"_Okay!" Ryo promised with a grin and waved before he turned around and walked to his guards, his guards bowed as he arrived, he nodded and climbed up his horse._

_The journey was peaceful, but when they walked through some alley around the late afternoon, an arrow landed beside his horse, and so, scaring the poor animal out. Ryo was thrown off from his horse in it's panic attempt to get away, "What in the world?!" He exclaimed as he stood up._

"_It's the attack from the Netherland Army!" One of the guards announced and they get ready to fight._

_Ryo pulled out his arrow to attack his enemies, but a noise from behind him make him froze. "Prince!" A chorus of horrified screams rang from around him as he looked behind him, many huge boulders were thrown from the cliff above him and heading straight to him and his guards._

_It's happening so fast and a second later everything turned black for him, and a searing pain through his whole body told him that he was pinned under the boulders. He was losing consciousness quickly due to his shock, fear, pain and the hit he received from the boulders being thrown at him from his enemies._

_All his life and memories flew passed his eyes, and when the image of his Little Brother passed before he closed his eyes, he was sad. He was sad because he would unable to keep his promise to be there for his Little Brother's Birthday, he was sad because he left his family behind so soon._

"_Yugi." He found himself whispering before losing his consciousness completely._

Ryou gasped as he returned to the present, he remembered everything now. No, wrong, he remembered his past life to be exact, and he would soon die again in the same time and situation if he stayed frozen in shock.

Gripping his and Akane's Sundaes tightly in his left hand, he run forward and jumped, landing on his right palm, he used his right hand to turn himself around while still in upside down position before jumping backward with the help of the push of his right hand, he landed on his feet far away from the falling pipes.

His action was considered too athletic for his 8 years old body, thanks to his past life memory, he now had the mind of an adult and could move like his past self to save himself from death. The pipes finally crashing to the ground, he noticed that he managed to get 3 meters away from his previous spot and the falling pipes with his child body. "Thank God." Ryou whispered in relief as he fell to his knees, the adrenalin rush had passed and left him with a jelly like legs.

"Boy! Are you okay?!" A man from the construction site asked him in worry.

He smiled at the man, "Yes, but I couldn't walk now, the shock finally kick in." Ryou said with a sheepish grin.

The man sighed in relief, "That was a great move you did back there." He said as he knelt down beside him, "Where are your parents? I will take you to them".

"Mommy is in the Movie Theater." Ryou answered as he pointed at the place.

The man nodded and picked him up, Ryou looked at the sky as he was carried to the theater. Now that he remembered his past life, he knew that his previous family already died now, all except for one. _Yugi_, Ryou thought as he looked back ahead to the Movie Theater to see his current Mother, _I'm sure that Yugi is still alive_, he continued in his head, he would try and find his Little Brother. Thousand years might have passed, but he was sure that Yugi would still remember him, and he knew that Yugi would be happy to know that he was alive.

_I will find you, Little Brother._

XXXXX

**1993, Kaiba Corporation's Party Hall in Domino, Japan**

"Ladies and Gentlemen." 10 years old Kaiba Seto watched in boredom as Kaiba Gozaburou, his adopted Father, said to the crowd of guests consist of Business Partner, old friends, Stock Holders, and so on. Too bad he couldn't show his boredom, so he could only settled with making his face vacant of any emotion. "Thank you for coming to my party tonight! In this very fine night, I hold this party to introduce you to my adopted Sons." Gozaburou looked at him, so he stepped forward and bowed a little, "This is Kaiba Seto, and this is Kaiba Mokuba." As he said that, Seto's 5 years old Little Brother walked to Seto's side and bowed to the crowd before clutching Seto's sleeve and half hiding behind him.

Seto tuned out the rest of the speech since he didn't want to exhaust his hearing, but he was soon forced to pay attention again when Gozaburou called his name and motioned for him and Mokuba to follow him. Sighing quietly through his nose, Seto followed the man get off the stage. Seto raised an eyebrow when Gozaburou looked around the hall, he was wondering what in the world the man was looking for before the man found whatever it was and started walking to it's direction. It turned out that the man was searching for someone and not something, and that someone was a tanned young man looking about 20 years old or more with three colors long hair tied in high ponytail.

One thing caught Seto's attention first before anything else was the young man's attire, instead of formal outfit like the rest of the people in the party, the young man was wearing casual clothes. He was wearing long sleeves black t-shirt under purple vest, blue jeans, and black combat boots, then his attire was completed by a black waist bag. The next thing Seto noticed was the fact that the young man was also bored out of his mind, he was looking like a pouting child with his childish feature in Seto's opinion. The last thing that was stand out from the young man, but was the hardest to forget, was the young man's Amethyst eyes when he looked at them.

"Good Evening, Mr. Hoshikage." Gozaburou greeted politely, "I'm glad that you can come tonight".

"Not for long, Mr. Kaiba." The young man said with a nod, "I have to go soon, my Son is sick at home".

Seto knew that it's a lie since the young man was crossing his fingers as he said so, he didn't blame the man, even Seto himself was bored out of his mind and wanted to go away soon.

Gozaburou nodded, "It's alright." He said as he motioned for Seto to walk forward, "As you know, they are my Sons, Kaiba Seto and Kaiba Mokuba".

Mr. Hoshikage looked at Seto and his Little Brother with a warm smile, "Hello there." He said as he held out his hand, "I'm Hoshikage Heba, nice to meet you, boys".

Seto and Mokuba, in turn, accepted the hand and shook it, "Kaiba Seto." He said calmly with a small smile.

"Kaiba Mokuba." Mokuba said timidly before hiding behind Seto again.

Heba chuckled, "What a cute boys." He commented cheerfully.

"Seto, Mokuba." Gozaburou called out, "Mr. Hoshikage is one of our biggest Stock Holders and his nickname is The Bridge. Remember him well, because he has the biggest influence in our Company after me as the CEO".

Seto stared at the young man in surprise, he would never thought that such a young man would have that much power in his adopted Father's Company. "Yes, Father." Seto and Mokuba said in awe.

Seto wanted to look at the man more, but he couldn't take his eyes away from the young man's enchanting Amethyst eyes. He would always remember that eyes no matter what, it's such a rare eye color, not to mention beautiful. He waved at the man as he was pulled by his adopted Father, he watched as the man waved back with a warm smile before turning around to leave.

_I wonder if we will meet each other again in the future._ Seto thought as he was led to another man, but this one was ugly looking, not beautiful looking like the young man earlier.

XXXXX

**1997, Under the Ground of Cairo, Egypt**

15 years old Ishizu Ishtar gasped in horror and covered her mouth with her hands as she watched her Father whipped a young man, Rishid, who was already like her own Older Brother, she looked at her Little Brother when she heard his scream.

"No! Father! Stop it!" A 13 years old boy with sandy blond hair cried out, "Stop it, Father!".

"Shut up!" His Father shout at the boy, "This is the punishment for breaking the law and help you out to the above ground when his job is to keep you safe in the underground!".

The boy gritted his teeth before running to the place where his Father keep the Millennium Rod and Millennium Necklace, "What are you doing, Malik?!" Ishizu gasped when she saw what was her Little Brother doing.

Malik grabbed the Millennium Rod, there's a short glow from the Eye of Horus on it when he did so before disappeared again, he turned around to his Father and pointed the Rod to the old man. "Stop now, Father!" Malik screamed in rage, "Don't hurt Nii-san anymore!".

"He is not your Brother!" His Father bellowed as he turned around to look at Malik, he gasped, "What are you doing with that?!" He demanded.

"Stop hurting Nii-san or I will force you!" Malik threatened angrily, he hated his Father for what he did, Rishid was already fainted but the old man kept whipping him!

"Insolent brat!" His Father spat, "I will punish you for that kind of attitude!" He said as he marched forward to Malik with his whip raised.

"Father, don't!" Ishizu yelled as she grabbed the man's waist with her arms.

"Move!" Malik's vision turned red when he saw his Father slapped his Older Sister and pushed her away like she was nothing, he saw Ishizu landed hard on the ground and heard her yelp from the impact, then everything blacked out.

Ishizu raised her left hand and placed it on her left cheek, it's stung from the slap she received. "What are you- Gah!" Ishizu's head snapped up when she heard her Father's voice, just in time to see the man thrown backwards to the wall and being pinned there by some invisible force.

Ishizu gasped before looking at Malik, her Little Brother had changed somehow. Malik's hair was now wilder than usual, spiked up in all direction like Porcupine's needles. Malik's eyes was narrowed until a slit and filled with malice, even her Brother's mouth was pulled up in a sneer. _This boy is not Malik_, Ishizu thought as she saw a glowing eye on Malik's forehead, how she knew, she didn't know, but she was certain that whoever moving her Brother's body now was not her Brother at all.

"Old man." The Evil Malik sneered, "Thank you for what you did all this time." He said as he walked to the man, "Thanks to you, Malik had build so much hatred, and his hatred for you and what you did to Rishid and Ishizu had let me born".

Ishizu's eyes widened when Malik pulled the bottom of the Millennium Rod off to reveal a sharp spike, sharp enough to stab someone with it.

"Now, as a thank you, I will kill you." The Evil Malik said with an evil grin before stabbing the man with the pointy end of the Rod.

Ishizu watched in horror as the Evil Malik stabbed their Father many times until the man stop screaming in pain, meaning that the man either lose consciousness or already dead. Her eyes widened even more in fear when the Evil Malik turned to Rishid, who was unconscious, and so was defenseless.

"Now, to make sure my other personality stay asleep, I will kill you as well." Evil Malik said with a dark smile.

Ishizu stood up, ready to stop Malik, or whoever was controlling Malik, but the Evil Malik noticed her and pinned to the wall as well. "Wait for your turn." Evil Malik said insanely and turned to Rishid again.

Ishizu tensed when Evil Malik raised his hand, ready to stabbed Rishid, but his hand stopped just an inch from Rishid's body. "Wh- what?" Evil Malik gasped in disbelief.

A bright light emanated from the Millennium Rod, causing Ishizu to close her eyes against the glare and Rishid to stir.

Rishid opened his eyes when the glow was dimmed, "Malik-sama." He said weakly.

Ishizu also opened her eyes and saw that Malik's body tensed while trembling before fell backward on to his butt. She noticed that her Bother's hair was less wild, wilder than usual but not as wild as before, and his eye color was deeper purple than usual but not nearly black like earlier.

"Th- that was . . . close." She heard Malik gasped breathlessly, "Late for a second and it's would be the end of Malik".

_What?_ Ishizu blinked, she noticed that she was released from her hold so she walked to whoever this time using Malik's body, "Who are you?" She asked suspiciously and cautiously.

This 'Malik' turned to look at Ishizu and grinned, "My name's Marik, the Spirit of The Millennium Rod. Don't get me wrong from that Evil version of Malik, okay?" He said as he stood up, he turned fully to Ishizu's direction, "Thanks to Rishid regained consciousness, I could win against Evil Malik's hold over Malik and sealed him, it would be bad if Malik snapped again though".

"The Spirit of The Millennium Rod?" Ishizu asked in disbelief, but here she saw the proof that this boy was not her Malik at all, "And who was this Evil Malik?".

"Malik developed Multiple Personality Disorder, it happened because your Father abused you all, Malik grew hatred toward the man and this hatred causing for Evil Malik to be born." Marik explained, "As the name, Evil Malik is the evil personality of Malik, the dangerous one".

Ishizu looked at Marik with wide eyes, she had a hard time digesting the information.

"Anyway." Marik said as he wiped the blood from the Millennium Rod with Malik's clothes before he sheathed it again, "It's nice to meet you again, Isis, but I could only appear for a short time. Malik is still too young to house my Spirit, so I will stay in the Rod for the time being." He winked at Ishizu, making the poor girl perplexed, "Good night!" He said before closing his eyes and the Rod glowed again.

Ishizu's eyes widened again when she saw that Malik's hair returned to it's normal tame spiky style before he Brother collapsed to the ground, "Malik!" Ishizu and Rishid gasped at the same time, although Rishid called Malik with an addition of –sama, before rushed forward to Malik's unconscious form.

"Yugi . . ." Malik muttered in his sleep, "Be . . . careful . . .".

_Yugi?_ Ishizu thought in confusion, _Who is Yugi? How come Malik know of this Yugi when he had never been outside before now?_ Her gaze then trailed to the Millennium Rod, _Is there more to the Millennium Items than just as important artifacts to Ancient Egypt?_

Ishizu promised herself that she would research more about the Millennium Items from that day onward.

XXXXX

**1998, A Mansion in Tokyo, Japan**

In the early morning, a girl with wavy blond hair gasped awake, her violet eyes widened as she shot up into a sitting position. The girl was panting heavily to catch her breath, "That dream again." She said out loud to herself as she placed her right palm on her forehead, "Why is it always this day of the year?".

"_Is everything alright?"_ A female voice asked in concern out of nowhere.

"It's alright, Rin." The girl answered, "Just the usual dream I have every year in the night of my Birthday".

"_Are you going to go today as planned?"_ Rin asked again.

The girl looked out through the window of her room, "Yeah." She said as she looked at the morning sky, "I will still going, I promised Aunt Maria to find **him**".

XXXXX

That day was when it's all began . . .

The day when everything was set in motion . . .

LINE~LINE~LINE

To be continued . . .

LINE~LINE~LINE

Froim : Sorry, I decided to edited this story because the flow was too slow with the previous one. Review Please ^ ^


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Disclaimer : I Don't own Yu Gi Oh!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

'_Telepathic Voice'_

"_Spirit Talking"_

-Telephone-

Letter

"Dialogue"

**Emphasis**

_**Dangerous Tone**_

"What is the meaning of this, Noah?" A 17 years old brown haired boy asked out loud to what appeared to be thin air, his piercing icy blue eyes were glaring at the screen of his laptop.

"It's just like what you see in that report, Seto." A voice rang from the single earring hanging from the boy's left ear, the earring looked like what an Egyptian Pharaoh would wear but a bit thicker than the real one even though it had the same weight, "The Big 5 had betrayed you and made a deal with Pegasus, in which Pegasus would be the owner of Kaiba Corp. if he managed to do something. I don't know what that something is, but I bet it has something to do with you".

"How dare they?" Seto growled in anger before his phone rang, he picked it up and brought it to his ear, "What is it, Mia?" He asked since the light shown on the phone was from his secretary.

"Mr. Pegasus has called and want to speak with you, Sir." Mia answered him right away.

Seto's eyes narrowed, "Connect him." He ordered shortly.

He waited a second as Mia connected Pegasus to his line before hearing the ugly voice of the pervert he was often told about, "Hello, Kaiba-boy." The man greeted him in English.

"What do you want?" Seto asked with barely concealed anger.

"Why, did I do something to anger you, Kaiba-boy?" Pegasus asked in mocking tone.

"Just get to the point, Pegasus." Seto growled, "I already know about your little deal with The Big 5".

Pegasus chuckled, "But not all of it, I guess." He said calmly, "The reason I'm calling you is to inform you that you have to come and duel me during the event that I'm hosting, the Duelist Kingdom. You don't have to come as a participant, just as a special guest who will duel me to entertain the finalists before their duels".

"I don't want to waste my time with your stupid entertainment, Pegasus." Seto said coldly.

He was just about to end the call when Pegasus's voice rang again, "Oh, no! You can't refuse to come, Kaiba-boy."

"And why not?" Seto asked in annoyance.

"Because then Kaiba Corp. will be mine by default." Pegasus answered.

Seto's eyes widened in shock, "What?!" He snarled in anger.

"Well, if you don't come then it would be count as you forfeiting, and I will have the ownership of Kaiba Corp." Pegasus explained calmly, "You see, Kaiba boy, the deal I made with The Big 5 require me to win against you, and they said that you will be counted as forfeiting if you don't come, it's to ensure that you will duel me".

"You bastard." Seto said through gritted teeth. His patience, which was already not that much to begin with, was thinning, a bit more and he would snap.

"Don't worry, Kaiba-boy." Pegasus said casually, "You just need to come and duel me, I will back off from the deal if you win against me. How about it?".

"Then I will make sure to win." Seto said coldly, "Just wait until I kick your pervert ass." He then put the phone back to it's place harshly, "Damn you, Pegasus. Damn you, The Big 5".

"Cool down, Seto." Noah's voice rang again from his earring.

"Cool down, you say?" Seto growled in anger, "Like hell I can cool down, just thinking about their stupid betrayal is enough to make my blood boil".

"That's why you need to cool down." Noah retorted, "You need a cool mind to think about what best to do. Besides, you only need to win against him".

"You know as well as I do that it's not that simple." Seto sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Well . . ." Noah trailed off and went silent for a few seconds before saying, "How about you discuss it with The Bridge?".

"I'm not a kid anymore, Noah." Seto said tiredly as he leaned back on his chair and stared at the ceiling of his office, "I can't go to him and ask for advice for every single problem that I have".

"He is still The Bridge, Seto." Noah said calmly, "He's right below CEO, he has the right to know about this information. Besides, he might be able to find a loop hole in the deal".

Seto closed his eyes for a few seconds before he opened them again and stood up, he closed his laptop and put it inside his briefcase then picked up his mobile phone before quickly made his way to the door.

XXXXX

To Mutou Yugi,

I have heard about your love of Duel Monsters from your late father, Hoshikage Heba. I want to see how good your dueling skill is, and therefore I invite you to participate in Duelist Kingdom, a Duel Monsters tournament that I'm hosting. In this package there are two Star chips, a glove, and five cards. They are the requirements to participate, please bring them along with you.

Pegasus J. Crawford.

Yugi sighed as he finished reading the letter he found inside the package.

"_Are you going to participate?"_

He looked beside him to see a transparent figure of a boy that could be mistaken as his twin if not for the diferrence of their eyes and hair tips color, the transparent boy's eyes and hair tips color was violet while his own eyes and hair tips color was brilliant purple, along with the fact that the boy has sharper eyes and more blond bangs than him, with a few of them stood up against his black hair.

Yugi put the letter back into the box before flopping backwards onto his bed, "Nah, I'm not interested." He answered as he closed his eyes while using his hands as his pillow.

"_Not interested or because you don't want to see his face again?"_ The boy asked with a teasing smirk.

"You know me so well, Yami." Yugi said with a grin, "Yeah, it's because I don't want to see that pervert's face again".

Yami chuckled in response.

"Yugi!" Sugoroku's voice rang from below, "There's some new packs of Duel Monsters, do you want some?".

Yugi shot out of the bed and immediately ran to the shop part of the house, "Of course!" He answered as he ran.

Many years had passed since Yugi met the old man, in term of appearance, who looked exactly like his own grandpa and Shimon. Yugi know that the old man was Shimon's reincarnation, not his own grandpa, but he often thought of Shimon as his second grandpa. So when Sugoroku, the name of Shimon's reincarnation, offered him to stay with the man 10 years ago, he agreed easily. Besides, living alone by himself could get lonely sometimes.

Around two years later, Sugoroku presented him his '8th' birthday gift, even though in reality he was more than 3000 years old already. He was surprised when Sugoroku gave him the Millennium Puzzle, and he was even more surprised when he solved the Puzzle. He had been trying to solve the Puzzle since that day, he was trying due to his boredom though, and it had taken him 8 years to complete it. He would never thought that of all people, he would be the one destined to free his Daddy's soul, fate was just that mysterious.

Yugi arrived at the shop and was greeted by a grinning Sugoroku, "So excited as usual, Yugi." He said in amusement.

"I can't help it, Jii-chan." Yugi said with a sheepish grin, "I love Duel Monsters".

Sugoroku had been nagging him about calling Sugoroku by name after he was adopted to the Mutou family, so he ended up calling Sugoroku with Jii-chan. It was kind of strange in the beginning since he was older than Sugoroku, but he get used to it soon.

The reason why he was adopted by Sugoroku was because a few months ago, when he as Hoshikage Heba went on a trip to Egypt for business purpose, the plane was caught in a storm and fell into the sea. The news stated that many people had gone missing in that accident and the rest were found dead, normal people would die in such an accident, but Yugi and the people that were said to be missing were not human at all, he and his fellow vampires survived from the accident due to their supernatural ability. Even so, since people would surely think that no one can survive that accident, all the vampires were forced to get a new identity since their previous ones were stated to be dead.

So, since Hoshikage Heba was stated to be dead in the accident, Yugi was officially an orphan. Sugoroku then got an idea to adopt Yugi into his family, he was Yugi's guardian along with Yuka, Sugoroku's daughter in law, and they would keep all of Yugi's inheritance until Yugi was old enough by law.

"Here." Sugoroku said as he placed a box on the counter, "I just got them this morning when you were buying groceries." He explained as he opened the box and revealing many packets of Duel Monsters cards, "Go on, take a look, and I hope you get some good cards".

Yugi hummed happily as he pulled out the packets from the box and then put them on display in the shop, "Which one should I get?" He asked himself with a happy smile on his face.

"_Just follow your instinct."_ Yami said as he appeared beside Yugi, an amused smile plastered on his face, _"I'm sure that that super sharp instinct of yours would help you get the cards which would suit you the best"_.

'_You think so?'_ Yugi asked telepathically through their mind link.

Sugoroku didn't know about Yami, since he wanted to spare the old man from such a horrible truth behind the creation of the Millennium Items and the fact that there's three Spirits trapped inside three of the Millennium Items who were an actual people in the past, even though he was sure the man would love to know the history of Ancient Egypt, being an Archaeologist and all.

"_I don't think so, I know so."_ Yami answered confidently before disappearing again.

Yugi hummed again before one packet caught his attention and he couldn't direct his gaze to any other packet, _Who would be in here, I wonder?_ He thought to himself as he picked the packet and opened it, he gasped when he saw what kind of cards he got in there.

"What is it?" Sugoroku asked curiously as he looked from behind Yugi's right shoulder, he whistled in amazement, "I can't believe your luck, Yugi. Not only you got a rare card like Dark Magician, but you also got Magical Hats and Spellbinding Circle that made a good combination with it, you also got Kuriboh along with Multiply at the same time".

Yugi nodded silently, his mouth agape as he stared at the cards in his hands, he really couldn't believe his luck. He caressed Dark Magician card and Kuriboh card with his thumbs gently, "It seems that no matter how long time had passed, you both are still willing to support me." He said longingly as he look at them, "Dark Magician, Kuriboh".

"_I would always support you to the best of my ability, My Prince."_ Mahad's calm but confident voice reached his ears.

"_Kuri!"_ Kuriboh's voice chirped as well.

Mahad was once a High Mage that he had known in the past, back in Ancient Egypt, and the real identity of Dark Magician. Kuriboh, on the other hand, was (and still is) his Ka, the monster residing within his soul who would aid him when needed.

"What do you mean by that, Yugi?" Yugi blinked when he heard a voice that wasn't Sugoroku's but was familiar to him, he looked around and saw a group of teenagers stood at the doorway. One of them being a boy with blond hair and a pair of honey brown eyes, who was currently raising an eyebrow at him, "Did you have them in the past but lose them or something?" He asked in curiosity.

"Minna (Everyone)." Yugi greeted them in surprise, it seems that he was too caught up in his memories of Mahad and Kuriboh that he didn't notice them coming.

"Ah, you are all here." Sugoroku said cheerfully from behind the counter, "Do you here to buy new cards or to spend time with Yugi?" He asked with a welcoming grin.

"Both." Jounouchi Katsuya, the boy with blond hair and honey brown eyes, answered with a big grin, "I want to strengthen my deck".

"Yup, that's right." Honda Hiroto, a brown haired boy with a pair of black eyes, said with a teasing smirk, "He want to strengthen his deck because he lose to Anzu 10 times in a row".

"Shut up." Jounouchi, or Jou for short, said with a scowl on his face before looking at Yugi, "Yugi, you still haven't answer my question".

Yugi smiled at them, "Why don't you guys buy your new cards first before we talk about it?" He suggested calmly.

"Sure." Jou agreed before looking at the packets to decide which one to buy, Honda soon joined him.

"Yugi." Mazaki Anzu, the brown haired girl with a pair of beautiful sea blue eyes, called out to him softly, "Is it something that you are uncomfortable to talk about?" She asked with concern.

Yugi shook his head, "It's nothing like that." He assured her with a gentle smile, he then saw the two boys approaching him and Anzu, "Jii-chan, we will be in my room if you need us." He said to Sugoroku before walking to his room upstairs the others following him after a short 'excuse us' to Sugoroku. They arrived in Yugi's bedroom and each took a seat around the room, Anzu sat on the chair of his study desk while Jou, Honda and Yugi were sitting on the bed. "Well, how long ago do you think Duel Monsters are exist in this world?" Yugi asked them as he leaned on the head of his bed.

"Hm . . ." Honda hummed in thought as he scratched his chin, "Since Grandpa already played it long before us, so I think Duel Monsters are older than us".

"Pegasus J. Crawford as the creator of Duel Monsters created the very first Duel Monsters cards around 30 years ago." Yugi began with a nod to confirm Honda's words of Duel Monsters being older than them, Yugi excluded of course, "But the origin of Duel Monsters themselves is even farther in the past, Duel Monsters are already exist even before I was born." He said, causing them to gasp in shock, "Long ago, Duel Monsters was called as Ka." He continued before they could ask any question, "Different from the present time, many people could use Magic in the ancient time, those people who can use Magic would have a soul monster within their very being, this monster was what we called as a Ka. Although, sometimes there's also some people who had a Ka in them but couldn't use Magic, these people often people with wicked heart or had been experiencing cruelty in their life.

"The people of Ancient times would use their Kas to help them in their battle, whether it's against criminals or wild animals. This story was written on a mural, but not everyone could see this mural for it is protected by the family of Tomb Keeper, for safety purpose." Yugi then showed them the Dark Magician and Kuriboh cards, "I think that Pegasus had somehow seen this mural and was inspired to create Duel Monsters cards, which now we know as a world wide game".

"But it's not just a mere game?" Anzu guessed hesitantly.

Yugi nodded, "For most people Duel Monsters are a mere game, but not for the people who can use Shadow Magic." He explained, "I don't know how many people left in this world who know of Shadow Magic, for even among the vampires, only I who can use Shadow Magic along with my own Vampire Magic, but I'm sure that the people who were chosen by the Millennium Items can use them".

"Is it dangerous?" Jou asked in worry.

Yugi nodded again, "It's very dangerous if the person who was chosen by a Millennium Item has corrupted heart." He said seriously, "They would use this power to take over the world or something like that, that's why the Millennium Items are protected by the family of Tomb Keeper, so that evil people couldn't get their hands on the Millennium Items".

"How many Millennium Items are there?" Honda asked curiously, "Your Millennium Puzzle is one of them I bet".

"You got it right." Yugi said with a smile as he looked at his Millennium Puzzle, "My Millennium Puzzle is one of them and has the power of Unity." He grinned at his friends, "This Puzzle is one of the reason why our friendship is to tightly knitted, it's power united our heart together, so that we would always be able to help each other when our friends are in need of our help".

They looked at the Puzzle in awe, "The power of unity . . ." Anzu said in wonder, "Like our Sign of Friendship?".

Yugi nodded in confirmation, "Yes, like the Sign of Friendship." He said softly, "The power of the Millennium Puzzle is Unity, so when you created the Sign of Friendship at the back of our hands that time, Anzu, the Puzzle's power made it possible for our heart to connect as one".

"Wow." Jou said in amazement, "So, how many Millennium Items are there?" He repeated Honda's question since Yugi forgot to answer it.

"Ah, right." Yugi grinned sheepishly as he realized that he had yet to answer that question, "There are 7 Millennium Items in total : The Millennium Puzzle, The Millennium Ring, The Millennium Rod, The Millennium Necklace, The Millennium Eye, The Millennium Key, and The Millennium Scale".

"What kind of power the other Millennium Items have?" Anzu asked seriously.

"The Millennium Necklace has the power to see the event of both the past and the future, while The Millennium Scale could judge whether someone is saying the truth or not." Yugi began as he made an image of the Millennium Necklace and Scale in the air using his Vampire Magic, all of his friends knew that he was a Vampire anyway. "These two, along with the Millennium Puzzle, are the only ones that aren't considered as deadly." He then made an image of the other four Millennium Items, "These four are the most dangerous ones among the Millennium Items." He dragged the image of the Millennium Eye, "The Millennium Eye can see people's mind and what they are thinking, but it can also be used to scan someone's mind and printed it on a paper-like object. If that happens, the person's body was still alive but couldn't move on their own, like in a coma since their mind was disconnected from their body." He dragged the image of Millennium Ring next, "The Millennium Ring can locate anything and anyone the Bearer want to find, but it also has the power of sealing. The Bearer of Millennium Ring can seal someone's soul into an object of any kind, and the victim would fall into a coma as well. The difference was the one that got sealed is someone's soul or spirit instead of someone's mind." He made the other images disappeared before dragging the images of the Millennium Rod and the Millennium Key at the same time, "These two have a very similar power, both of them could be used to enter someone's mind and then control the mind of the people they entered so the people would act like a mere doll." He then separated the two images, "The difference is the Millennium Key can look through someone's memory and lock them, while the Millennium Rod couldn't look through someone's memory but can hide them or create a new one altogether".

By the end of Yugi's explanation, the three teenagers were so pale as if they had just seen a ghost. "That's so scary." Anzu said in fear.

"Yeah." Jou nodded in agreement, "Just think about it, if some evil guy managed to get their hands on one of those dangerous Items . . ." He trailed off before he shuddered.

"This world will over then!" Honda said in fear as he raised both of his hands in emphasis.

The group was silent for a few seconds before a new voice broke the silence, "Are you done with the history lesson yet?"The owner of the voice was none other that Kaiba Seto, the CEO of Kaiba Corporation.

"Hey, Seto." Yugi greeted him with a grin, "You are better and better at sneaking around, I nearly didn't notice your presence and hear you coming".

"Only because you are too absorbed with telling them the story of Millennium Items." Seto said as he made his way to Yugi casually like he own the house and stood there while leaning on the wall beside Yugi, "Are you done though?".

"Yes." Yugi answered shortly.

"Good." Seto said with a sigh, "There's something I need to discuss with you as The Bridge of Kaiba Corp".

"And that is?" Yugi asked curiously.

Seto crossed his arms, "The Big 5 betrayed us." He said coldly, anger thick in his voice, "They made a deal with Pegasus stating that he will be the owner of Kaiba Corp. if he won against me in Duel Monsters".

"Can't you just refuse to duel him?" Yugi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I can't." Seto growled angrily, his blood boiling again when he thought about their betrayal, "The Big 5 said that I would be counted as forfeiting if I don't duel him and Pegasus would be the owner of Kaiba Corp. by default".

"When are you going to duel him?" Yugi asked calmly, his millennia of experience in life had taught him to stay calm when facing trouble.

"During Duelist Kingdom, before the semi-finals begin." Seto answered before running his hand through his hair, he then looked at Yugi with his piercing blue eyes, "You are The Bridge, your position is right below me as the CEO. What do you think we should do?".

Yugi sighed, "It can't be helped then." He muttered before getting up and picked the package he received through the mail earlier before returning to his position, "The only way out is for you to duel him and win".

"But Pegasus is a very tricky person." Seto protested, ignoring the others who looked back and fort between Seto and Yugi, "You saw it as well when you went with me as Heba, what happened during Pegasus's duel with Bandit Keith wasn't something that's considered as normal nor usual".

"What are you two talking about?" Jou, who couldn't keep quiet and just listen anymore, asked with a confused face. Anzu and Honda just stared at them without a clue about what was going on.

"Well, you see, I'm one of the biggest Share Holders of Kaiba Corporation. My position is right under the CEO, so I had the right to know what is going on and my opinion is very important, even though I often just let Seto made the decision regarding what to do with the company." Yugi explained to his other friends, "About what happened to Bandit Keith . . ." He trailed off and looked at Seto, "Can you tell us what happened? I didn't really pay attention that day, you know that I never really pay attention to what that pervert do".

Seto could only sighed, "Well, even though I said duel, Pegasus didn't really dueling against Bandit Keith." He started as he remembered what had happened that day, "The American King of Duelist took place in the New York Duel Stadium. You, Yugi, were there with me as Heba. We were invited to watch the tournament in the premier seats, and Pegasus's opponent was the number one tournament winner, Keith Howard. Since he had won the prized money in every major tournament, he was called 'Bandit Keith'." He glanced at Yugi, "Remember it yet?" He asked in bored tone.

Yugi stared blankly at Seto for a few seconds before he snapped his fingers, "Yes, I remember now." He said with a nod to himself, he then looked at his friends who were now looking at him expectantly, "Just like what Seto said, it's not exactly a duel, because . . . you see, Pegasus just stared at Bandit Keith and then pulled a papper and a pen. He wrote something and then called a kid over from the audience, who happened to be sitting behind us. Pegasus then told the kid to duel Bandit Keith according to what was written on the paper, all of Bandit Keith's tactics were written on that paper, and Pegasus humiliated Bandit Keith by stating that the kid was the winner".

"I don't know what kind of trick he used, but I need to made something that can win against his trick." Seto said seriously, and Yugi could just see the gears turning in his head, "I think I will made the prototype Duel Disk that I'm planning to made since the last month".

"Duel Disk?" Jou asked curiously, "What is that?".

"It's an advanced dueling machine that would allow Duelists to have a duel with virtual simulation system anywhere without needing the current Duel Ring." Seto explained calmly.

"Hee, sounds great." Jou said with interest.

"Of course." Seto answered with a smug smirk on his face as he looked at Jou, "It's not something that your little brain could come up with, Mutt".

"Why you!" Jou growled as he made a move to hit Seto, only to be held back by Honda.

"Now, now." Honda said as he struggled to hold Jou back.

"Anyway." Yugi said a bit louder than normal to gain their attention, "I'm looking forward to see that Duel Disk, Seto. Whether it would help you win against Pegasus's trick or not, it doesn't change the fact that people could enjoy a good duel with that system wherever they are".

"I'm glad that you approve of it, Grandpa Yugi." Seto said with a proud smirk.

Yugi chuckled, "You are on teasing mode again." He said in amusement, "It's nice to see you in a good mood, instead of a constant glare on that face".

Seto snorted in answer.

"Um, Yugi . . ." Anzu called out hesitantly. Yugi, along with the others, turned their attention to her, "About this trick that Pegasus used, it sounded awfully similar with the power of the Millennium Necklace, don't you think?".

"You are right." Yugi's eyebrows shot up as he realized that, "Even so, it would be impossible for Pegasus's trick to come from the power of the Millennium Necklace, if that was you are getting at".

"Why?" Anzu asked in confusion.

"Because The Millennium Necklace never chose a male before, only a female." Yugi explained, "I don't really know why, but I think it has something to do with the fact that only women wore a necklace back in Ancient Egypt's time. At the current time, the men could use the same accessories like rings, bracelets, necklaces, and sometimes earrings just like women, but back in Ancient Egypt's time only women would use necklaces and earrings, and only the Pharaoh and the Princes would use earrings among the men".

"Make sense." Seto said in understanding, "If, and only if, his trick comes from a Millennium Item, what do you think he has?".

Yugi pointed to his left eye, "That pervert always covering his left eye, right?" He asked rhetorically, "The only way for that guy to know Bandit Keith's tactics in detail was by knowing what was in Bandit Keith's mind. Among all of the Millennium Items that would allow their Bearers to do so, only the Millennium Eye that could be used instaneously without having to pointing the said Item towards the victim".

"So, Pegasus is cheating?" Honda asked seriously, "He use his power to win?".

"If you assume that he really has the Eye, then yes, he use his power to win." Yugi answered nonchalantly, "But I don't recall there's a rule stating you couldn't use a Millennium Item's power, or any other power, during a duel, so I don't think Pegasus is considered cheating".

"I don't care he has a Millennium Item or not." Seto said to cut whatever Honda wanted to say after that, he looked at Yugi, "What should we do? Do you think you can find a loop hole in the deal?".

"I can't find a loop hole if I don't even know the deal and see the written paper of the said deal." Yugi answered grimly before shrugging, "Anyway, as I said before, the only way out is for you to duel him and win." He raised his hand to stop Seto from protesting before he finished, "In case you couldn't win against him, I will duel him and he could only go through his deal with the Big 5 if he could defeat me. I'm The Bridge and my share is even bigger than the Big 5, the Big 5 can't just sold the company to Industrial Illusions if I didn't agree to it, so Pegasus had no choice but to win against me as well and force me to agree if he want to own Kaiba Corp".

Seto sighed in relief, "At least I can relax now knowing that you will duel him in case I lose against his trick." He said in a calmer tone as the tension he felt since hearing about the Big 5's betrayal left him, "How are you going to get him to duel you though?".

"Wait." Jou cut in, "Why would you relax after knowing that Yugi will duel Pegasus in case you lose?" He asked in total confusion.

"Because I'm very sure that Pegasus don't have a single chance winning against Yugi." Seto said proudfully, "As much as it hurt my pride to admit it, but the only time I win against Yugi was when I got the three Blue Eyes White Dragon, and when I challenged him to duel me so I can get the fourth one, I lose again".

"Why do I feel that you don't mind it that much?" Anzu asked with a sweat drop.

"Because I don't." Seto said with a shrug, "I mean, it's normal for a student to have a hard time winning against his teacher, isn't it? I don't mind losing to Yugi, it's just mean that I need to improve myself so I can one day defeat the one who taught me about Duel Monsters and many other things." He explained before raising an eyebrow to Yugi, "So, the answer to my question?" He asked so he could get his answer without being cut off again.

'This." Yugi said as he opened the package and showed them the stuffs he got from Pegasus, "Pegasus sent this to me, an invitation to participate in Duelist Kingdom tournament." He explained as he waved the letter to them, "I wanted to just ignore it at first, since I don't want to see his pervert face again, but now that we got this problem in our hand . . . I have to participate to make sure that Pegasus would never get the ownership of Kaiba Corp".

"When is it?" Seto asked as he looked at the requirements, "I need to know or I might miss it".

"Well . . ." Yugi picked up the cards and read one of them which had the information about the tournament, "The participants need to go by boat it seems, the boat would depart from Domino Port one week from now on at 9.30 PM." He looked at Seto, "I don't know how long since that time to when you need to duel Pegasus, so I will inform you about it once I arrived there".

Seto nodded his head in understanding.

"Hm, but this means we can't go there without invitation." Honda said in disappointment, "I want to cheer for you, Yugi".

"Let us go together then!" Anzu said with a smirk on her face, "We can always sneaked in".

"If you want to sneak into the boat, you will need distraction." Seto told her calmly, "Pegasus's men would guard the boat from all direction to prevent any intruder, so you need something to distract them from the spot you are going to sneak in".

"I will be the distraction!" Jou offered excitedly.

"But then you won't be able to come with us, Jou." Honda reminded him, erasing Jou's excited expression.

Yugi chuckled darkly, "Leave the distracting job to me." He told them with a dark smile, "You only need to make sure you get into the ship".

_Creepy_, Anzu, Jou, and Honda thought at the same time as they saw Yugi's dark smile.

Seto didn't even affected by the sight of Yugi's scary smile, he only leaned out of the wall and headed for the door. "Thank you for the time, Yugi." He said as he looked back to the smaller boy from the doorway, "I will go now, I need to start working if I want to finish the prototype in time for the duel".

"Ah, wait, Kaiba!" Anzu called out excitedly as she rummaged her bag, "Before you go, come here and show us the back of your hand".

"Why must I?" Seto looked at her as if she was crazy.

Yugi, Jou, and Honda shared a look as they got what Anzu wanted to do. They stood up and stood in circle along with Anzu, leaving a space on Yugi's left side for Seto. "Come on, Seto." Yugi called him over, "Just do as she said".

Seto let out a long sigh before walkng over and showed the back of his right hand, "What now?" He asked uninterestedly.

Yugi grinned and grabbed Seto's wrist with his left hand so the boy couldn't pull his hand back even if he wanted to, he then winked at Anzu, who nodded and pulled out a marker from her bag. Seto's jaw dropped when Anzu draw something on the back of their hands and he couldn't pulled his hand back at all, so he could only watch as the girl draw something on his hand as well. The drawing that Anzu made was a smiling star, which then glowed with silver light as soon as the girl finished the drawing and the ink changed into silver from black, the drawing had been enchanted by Yugi's Vampire Magic.

"What is this?" Seto demanded as he pulled his hand back before looking warily at the silver drawing.

"It's the Sign of Friendship." Anzu said cheekily, "The ink from the magic marker will disappear soon, but our friedship will never disappear!".

"What a childish thing." Seto said with a sweat drop.

"Even if it's childish, this Sign of Friendship was what helped me win against you when you want to take Jii-chan's Blue Eyes." Yugi said with a warm smile, of course it was Yami who dueled Seto, but it still the same thing. "I was so scared that time, I think that I would fail to draw the last piece of Exodia and be the cause of Jii-chan losing his Blue Eyes." He explained as he looked at the Sign on the back of his hand fondly, "When I see this, I know that I will have my friends behind my back no matter what happens, so I could draw that card".

Seto's eyes softened, "If what Gozaburou thought me was ever considered in my mind, I would scoff at the idea of having friends would help me." He then showed them a rare smile, "From my experience with Yugi though, I know that having friends wouldn't stop me from becoming stronger, friends would push me so I will become even stronger than I am now. I will cherish this friendship, thank you".

They smiled at Seto and nodded, "We got your back, Seto." Yugi said confidently.

"As I will have yours." Seto said with a nod before turning around, "I will meet you guys at Duelist Kingdom!" He said with a confident smirk before walking out of the game shop, he once again feeling grateful that he had Yugi with him while growing up, or he might grow into a cold and cruel man like Gozaburou.

Yugi watched as Seto's Limousine drove away, a smile gracing his lips, happy that Seto had finally opened up to having friendship with other people aside from him.

LINE~LINE~LINE

To be continued . . .

LINE~LINE~LINE

Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Disclaimer : I Don't own Yu Gi Oh!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

'_Telepathic Voice'_

"_Spirit Talking"_

-Telephone-

Letter

"Dialogue"

**Emphasis**

_**Dangerous Tone**_

"Ah, there he is." Jou whispered as he saw Yugi standing among the crowds of Duelists, probably listening to whatever speech Pegasus told his men to say.

"Any sign at all?" Honda asked in whisper as he looked at Jou, who peeked around the wall to watch the group with a monocular that Yugi gave him.

"Not yet." Jou answered before his eyes widened when he saw Yugi turned to his direction and winked before putting his right hand into his pocket, "Yugi made the sign, let's go." He whispered to Honda and Anzu before leading the way to the cargo.

Not a second after Jou and the rest started walking, they heard the children among the group of duelists screamed and they heard the guards start yelling. Jou looked at what caused such commotion and saw many marbles exploding at the feet of the participants, he raised an eyebrow and wondering where in the world Yugi managed to get his hand on something like that, before shrugging and kept going. They found a huge box that would be lifted to the ship and hid inside, just in time too since the box was lifted a minute later, all they needed to do now was wait for the ship to take off and they could go to find Yugi.

After what felt like eternity, they felt the ship moved. "I think it's safe now." Jou said after a few minutes more of waiting.

"Let's go find Yugi." Anzu said with a grin after they all get out of the box before began walking around the ship as casually as possible to not raise suspicion, Honda and Jou were stiffer than Anzu due to the fact that they were very nervous, making them wondered how Anzu could be so confident.

They were searching at the left side of the deck when they found Yugi looking out of the sea, "There he is." Anzu stated with a grin on her face, "Let's go!" Anzu walked faster towards Yugi, followed by the boys, while avoiding the people that were on the deck as well, she opened her mouth to call out at Yugi but someone's voice beat her.

"Excuse me."

Yugi looked up to his side when he heard the voice that was directed at him and his eyes widened at the sight that met his gaze, standing on his left side was a wavy blond haired young woman with amethyst eyes like him, although a bit darker than his own eyes. The young woman looked hot with the upper clothes that showed a bit of her chest, the short skirt and a high heeled boots that she wore, but it wasn't her clothes or hotness that made Yugi's eyes to widen, but the fact that the young woman looked exactly like his Older Sister in the past.

_Maya-neechan . . ._ Yugi thought as he stared at her in surprise.

Not only that his Older Brother, Jono, reincarnated as Jounouchi Katsuya in the present time, but now his Older Sister, Maya, had reincarnated as well. Added to the fact that Shimon and Seth had both reincarnated as Mutou Sugoroku and Kaiba Seto, Yugi couldn't help but wondered who else he would find to be reincarnated in this time later.

"Can I help you?" Yugi asked her as he relized that he had been staring at her for quite some time.

"Mutou Yugi, correct?" Maya's reincarnation asked calmly as she looked straight at Yugi's eyes, Yugi nodded in answer, "I would like to talk alone with you, if you don't mind".

Yugi shook his head, "I don't mind." He answered as curiosity crept into him, "Why though? Is whatever is it that you want to talk to me can't be said here?".

She nodded, "It's not what I want to say to you that can't be said here, but more to the fact that it's relate to your real identity." She looked at him with knowing eyes, "Please follow me." She nodded her head again before turning around and heading to a more seclude part of the deck.

Yugi frowned as he stared at her back, _She knows what I am?_ He asked himself in his mind before following her, "What do you know of my real identity?" He asked as soon as they stopped walking.

The woman turned to him, "First, I know for a fact that you are not a human, but a Vampire, one of the strongest kind." She answered calmly as she leaned on the railings, "Before you use the name of Mutou, you were a Hoshikage, correct?".

Yugi nodded, "I was, and still am, actually." He answered as he crossed his arms, "Hoshikage is my middle name now".

She nodded, "The one I want to talk to is actually Hoshikage Heba, but since you and him are actually a single person, I think I will just say it to you." She explained as she pulled out an envelope from her bag, she looked up and opened her mouth to say more but closed it again and stared at something behind Yugi.

Yugi's left ear twitched as he heard three set of footsteps approaching them, "Yugi." Anzu's voice called him, "Who is she?".

Yugi looked behind his shoulder and nodded to acknowledge them before turning to the woman, "Someone." He answered before raising an eyebrow at the person before him for her name.

"Kujaku Mai." The woman answered calmly, but she didn't say anything more after that, waiting for Yugi to send the others off since she thought that they didn't know Yugi's identity as a Vampire.

"It's alright." Yugi said to Mai, "They already know about me being a Vampire." He explained when Mai raised an eyebrow at him.

Mai nodded in answer before offering the envelope, "My Aunt wanted me to give it to you." She said softly, "I'm sure you know who she is when you read the letter, so I will just tell you, her name is Maria".

Yugi's eyes widened as his hand halted just before he touch the envelope, "Maria?" He whispered as tear began to fill his eyes, "Maria is your Aunt?".

Mai nodded again, "She had been searching for you all this time, for years she tried to find you and apologize but she couldn't find you anywhere, she always came too late and you had already gone by the time she arrived to any place she heard you were at." She explained with a sad smile, "Aunt Maria gave up to ever finding you after many years of failure, she decided to take a rest due to her weak body couldn't keep going from one place to the other in short time anymore." Her sad smile faded and she looked down at her feet, "A lung desease claimed her, she knew that she would never see you again in her life, so she wrote this letter for you. 11 years ago, she told me about you on her death bed, she wanted someone to give this letter to you if you ever come to visit, but I promised her that I will personally give it to you." She looked up at Yugi and smiled sadly again, "Please accept it, Yugi, and please read what my Aunt wanted to tell you so badly".

A single tear fell from the corner of Yugi's eyes as the thought of Maria filled his mind, his heart broke when he heard that Maria had died and left this world, he had lose yet another person that he loved with all his heart. He then looked at the letter in Mai's offered hand and took it with shaking hand, he opened the envelope and pulled out the folded paper inside. He hesitated just as he about to unfold it before taking a deep breath, he unfolded the paper and read the neat hand writting on it.

My Love, Heba.

I'm really sorry for my reaction that time, it's my grief talking. I don't hate you at all, Heba, I love you with all my heart. I'm sorry for blaming you for Rei's death, I didn't mean to yell at you like that, and I never hate you. It's not your fault that our Son was kidnapped by a Rogue, and it's not your fault that you couldn't save him, you didn't know that a Rogue had him. I shouldn't blame you at all, please forgive me that I yelled at you and said that I hate you. It's all a lie, because I wanted to blame someone to ease my pain for losing him, I forgot that you were in pain as well for losing him.

Heba, when you read this letter, I would already gone from this world due to my lung desease, but please don't be sad. I will always watching over you, just like Rei and your other loved ones who had passed on before you. Please remember that I would always love you with all my heart, I wish you could find someone else to love and heal your hurting heart.

I love you, Heba.

Maria

Yugi closed his eyes tightly after he finished reading the letter, his heart felt like being stabbed with many knifes as he remembered about his dead Son and his secret Lover, who now had left him as well. It's hurt for him, it always hurt him when he lose someone to death, when his loved ones died before him, but this hurt him more because Maria died before he could apologize to her as well.

"Maria." Yugi whispered as he clutched the letter to his chest with tears downing his cheeks, "You stupid girl, why are you apologizing?".

Anzu, Jou, and Honda stared at Yugi in concern, they didn't know what was written on the letter, but they kind of understand that Yugi was sad because of it. Anzu stepped forward and reached out a hand to touch Yugi but Mai caught her wrist, she opened her mouth to protest but Mai shook her head and put a finger to her lips as a sign to be quiet. Both of the girls and the guys looked at Yugi with sad eyes before their eyes widened when they saw two glowing yet transparent figures appeared in front of Yugi, Mai more shocked than the others since she recognize one of the figures.

"It's just like what you said, it's all my fault, you don't need to apologize." Yugi continued, oblivious to what had happened, but he did opened his eyes when he felt a smooth and warm hand on his left cheek.

"_Don't blame yourself."_ The voice that spoke to him was soft and gentle, Yugi's head shot up and he stared in shock at the spirit of a beautiful woman with long wavy reddish blond hair and a pair of soft purple eyes in front of him, _"It's not your fault, please don't blame yourself"_.

"Maria." Yugi said in a choked whisper.

"_Heba."_ Maria said with loving voice and a warm smile on her face.

Mai tapped Anzu's shoulder, she then motioned for Anzu to follow her, "Let's leave them alone." She mouthed as she felt like intruding something personal.

Anzu nodded her before nodding at the guys and they silently left.

Silent tears keep flowing from Yugi's eyes, "I . . ." Yugi tried to say but something caught in his throat, he gulped and tried again, "I'm sorry, Maria".

Maria shook her head, _"It's not your fault, My Love."_ She said softly, _"It was never your fault, please don't blame yourself anymore"_.

Yugi shook his head slowly, "No." He denied, "It's all my fault . . . if only I was faster, then-".

"_No."_ Maria cut him off, _"No, it's not your fault, never your fault, so don't blame yourself anymore."_ She said sternly before smiling, _"But I need to apologize for yelling at you like that, please forgive me?"_.

"You didn't need to apologize, but I forgive you." Yugi said as he placed both of his hands on her face as his form changed into that of Heba, a tall young man with tanned skin and longer hair tied in ponytail, "Besides, I'm the one who should apologize, Maria".

"_Yugi . . ."_ Maria looked at him sadly before Heba shook his head to stop her from saying anything.

"No, even if it's not my fault what had happened to Rei, it doesn't change the fact that I broke my promise to protect him always." Heba said sadly, "I couldn't keep my promise, but I shouldn't leave just like that. Even if you were angry at me and told me to go away, I should stay with you and wait for you to calm down. I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise, and I'm so sorry that I left just like that".

Maria smiled warmly, _"I forgive you."_ She said softly before she hug him, with Heba answering the hug.

"_Dad."_ A deep yet childish voice said after Heba and Maria fell into silence.

Heba gasped as he heard the voice, he pulled apart from his Lover, not completely though as he kept his left arm around her back and resting on her left hip, to look at the other spirit whose presence he fail to notice due to his attention being captured completely by Maria. "Rei." He said as he stared at the spirit of a boy no older than 10 years old who looked like Maria, the boy had short wavy black hair that turned reddish black at the tips and had the same enchanting eyes like Heba. "Rei." Heba whispered as he slowly reached out a hand to the boy, who caught his hand and placed it on his own cheek.

Rei stared lovingly at Heba, _"Daddy."_ He said with a happy smile, _"I miss you, Daddy"_.

"Oh, Son." Heba said with a happy smile as well before pulling his Son into a warm embrace with his right hand, "I miss you too, I thought I would never see you again".

Rei hugged Heba tightly, _"I was watching Daddy all this time."_ He said softly, _"And when Mommy came, we both watched over Daddy."_ He looked up at Heba with a cute pout on his cute face, _"Daddy would always wearing a sad face every time Daddy remembered us, I don't want Daddy to be sad when remembering about us anymore"_.

"_Bad Heba."_ Maria said in a sing song voice, _"You have to smile when remembering us, don't be sad."_ She said gently as she leaned her head on Heba's shoulder, _"We don't want you to be sad"_.

"I will try not to." Heba said as he gazed lovingly at her, "But I won't promise anything since life is never flat, happiness and sadness would always come one after another as long as this world still stand".

"_Always with wise words, Daddy."_ Rei commented, his eyes alight with amusement, _"I heard from Great Grandpa Solomon in Afterlife that Daddy always acted and talked like an adult when Daddy was a kid, it seems that Daddy's habit die hard"_.

"And you seems to be getting that habit from me." Heba answered with a smile.

They smiled at each other before Maria exhaled softly, _"I'm sorry, Heba."_ She said as she pulled away from Heba, _"It's time for us to return to the Afterlife"_.

Heba smiled and nod, "I hope you are happy and content in there, Maria." He said before closing his eyes and kissed her full on the lips, Maria answered the kiss with all the love in her heart. They pulled away and smiled at each other before Heba looked at his Son, "Will you watch over Daddy?" He asked lovingly.

"_Of course, Daddy!"_ Rei said cheerfully before hugging Heba again then moved back to Maria, who had already waiting for him a meter away from Heba.

"_We will always watching over you, Heba."_ Maria said softly as she held Rei's hand in her left one, _"I hope you will find another person to love, I don't want for you to live the rest of your life being a lonely old Vampire"_.

Heba chuckled, "We will see." He answered with a grin, "You are the only one I romantically love in 3000 years of my life, I don't know when I would find someone else to love like I love you, if I ever will again." He then looked at Rei and winked, "Say hello to our family in there for Daddy, okay?" He said before chuckling and added, "To whoever still in there, I mean, since I noticed that many of them had reincarnated into this time".

"_Ah, about it . . ."_ Maria said as she remembered something, _"There's a message from someone in the Afterlife that I have to tell you"_.

"What is it?" Heba asked curiously.

Maria looked straight at Heba's eyes, "_ 'Your journey is still long, Young Prince. Many of your friends and family are being reborn to this world to help you with your battle against the God of Darkness. You will once again face to face with __**him**__ in the future. While you are stronger now as you are not a child anymore, __**He**__ is stronger as well. You need all the help you can get, you and the Sealed Ones alike, remember that. Don't try to do it alone, for you will only fail again then.' "_ She said with serious tone, _"Well, those were his exact words, I don't really understand what he meant by them though . . ."_ She trailed off as she saw Heba's grim expression, _"Heba?"_ She asked cautiously, but Heba didn't answer for he was in his own world.

_The God of Darkness . . ._ Heba thought grimly as his eyes became unfocused, his memory was replaying the event from 3000 years ago and his mind understanding what the message was telling him about.

The Thief King and Marik had fell victim to Akhunadin's betrayal, their Spirits sealed into the Millennium Ring and Millennium Rod to awaken the God of Darkness by Akhunadin's action when he stabbed them with the Millennium Rod, and the Pharaoh sacrificed his own life to seal the God of Darkness, along with his own Spirit, into the Millennium Puzzle.

_The Sealed Ones mean Daddy, Papa, and Marik . . . and by 'once again face to face with him', someone would release the God of Darkness from his seal and we will once again have to fight against him_. His eyes narrowed as he thought about it.

The only ones who knows about it were those who lived through the event or heard about it, the message seemed more to be telling the future and adviced Heba and the Sealed Ones to not face this problem on their own.

"_Daddy?"_ Rei asked fearfully, he had never seen Heba wearing that kind of expression before, not even when Rogue Vampires involved.

Heba blinked as he was pulled out from his thought, "Ah, sorry, Rei. I got lost in my own mind." He said with a sheepish grin to Rei before turning to Maria, "Who gave you that message, Maria?" He asked seriously.

"_I don't remember you telling me about him in the past, so I don't know if you know him or not."_ Maria answered, relieved that Yugi didn't wear that grim expression anymore, _"He said his name is Akhnamkanon though"_.

Heba gasped in surprise, "Akhnamkanon, you said?" He asked with blinking eyes.

"_Yes."_ Maria said with a nod, _"You know him?"_.

"I don't know him personally, but I do know about him." Heba answered slowly as he stared at her, "He's my Grandfather".

"_My other Great Grandpa?"_ Rei asked cutely.

"Not by blood, but technically, yes. I'm the adopted Son of his Son, so he's technically my Grandfather as well." Heba explained to him with a smile, "I have my blood Parents and two adopted Fathers, so you have many Grandpas and Great Grandpas, Rei".

"_Wow."_ Rei said in amazement with big eyes.

Maria's and Rei's Spirit glowed suddenly, _"Oops."_ Maria said as she noticed this, _"Time's up"_.

Heba immediately kissed her lips and Rei's forehead, "I'm happy that I can see you both again." He said with a smile, "I hope I can see you again sometimes".

"_You will."_ Maria said with a smile as they started to disappear.

"_We will watch you, Daddy!"_ Rei managed to say before they disappeared completely.

"I love you, Maria, Rei." Heba said softly before his form returning to that of Yugi, he sighed before looking around, he didn't see his friends or Mai, "Well, let's see where they are." He said to himself and began walking.

"What the hell!" Jou's cry of disbelief rang from the cabin's direction.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Mai's voice joined him.

Yugi blinked before ran at full speed to the cabin once he saw that no one was around, he entered the cabin and saw that Jou and Mai were glaring at one of Pegasus's men while Anzu and Honda just standing not far behind them, the four people were the center of attention at the moment.

"A lady like me has to be stuck with those people without even a shower?" Mai protested as she marched to the man, causing the man to step back for every step that Mai took.

"B-but that's the rule." The man tried to explain.

"Tell the person in charge to come here!" Mai demanded.

"Yugi." Anzu greeted when she saw him as he passed her to get to Mai.

Yugi nodded at her before looking at Mai, "What's happened here?" He asked curiously, even though he had understood most of what was causing the commotion, but other people didn't know that he could practically hear everything that happened in the ship.

"This guy said that I, a lady, have to be stuck in here with these people, who are all guys." Mai answered in annoyance as she motioned to the others in the room, "Aside from this girl." She added when Anzu opened her mouth to protest, "And not even a shower! This must be a joke".

Yugi raised an eyebrow at the man, "It's the rule." The man said simply to Yugi's unasked question.

"Rule my ass." Mai said rudely.

"Don't be so rude, Mai." Yugi said calmly as he fished the pocket of his school's jacket. He wore his school uniform since he would meet with Pegasus one way or another, he didn't want a repeat of what had happened 20 years ago.

"That's right." Someone said in agreement from behind them, they looked back and saw two boys coming over into the room, "You will be thrown of the ship if you keep that attitude, woman." The brown haired boy with a bit of purple hair above his forehead said with a smirk.

"Who are you?" Mai asked with a vein mark on her head, "And don't call me woman, I have a name and it's Kujaku Mai. Thank you very much".

"I'm known as Dinosour Ryuuzaki." The brown haired boy answered calmly, still with a smirk on his face, "And this is Insector Haga".

"We are the First and Second Duel Monsters Champ in Japan." Haga said boastfully.

Yugi, Mai, Jou, Anzu, and Honda stared at them with a 'What the hell' expression and a sweat drop on their heads. "Smug little kids, so what with being the First and Second of Japan Champ?" Mai muttered quietly to herself before placing a hand on her hip, "What I want is a room, not your stupid boast".

"This room is not so bad, actually." Haga told her as he motioned around the room with his head, "You can use this opportunity to trade cards with the other participants".

"My own deck is perfect, I don't need to trade with them." Mai retorted with a huff, "I prefer to have a nice room for my own".

"Well, you can join me in my single room." Ryuuzaki offered with a smug smirk again.

"What kind of a lady do you think I am?" Mai hissed in anger.

"Ignore him, Mai." Yugi said as he offered a key to her, "Here, you can have my room." He explained to her confused expression, "As long as you don't mind sharing the room with Anzu. There's a bathroom inside, so you can have a shower if you want".

Mai looked at Yugi in surprise, she had heard about Yugi from her Aunt and how they were Lovers, but she never thought that Yugi would be so kind to her whom he had just met today. "Thank you." She said with a smile before looking at Anzu, "Come on. Anzu, right? Let's go to our room and get a nice rest".

"Sure." Anzu answered with a shrug, "I would like to ask a few questions to you anyway".

They watched the two girls left before Ryuuzaki turned to Yugi, "You aren't Japan Champ, how come you got a single room?" He asked curiously.

"Who knows?" Yugi asked back with a shrug, "I got the key along with the package of invitation, I asked about it earlier and found it to be a key to one of the single rooms in the ship".

"I bet it's because you are someone who won against Kaiba Seto." Haga said with a smirk on his face, "Even though I won the Japan tournament, but I'm not satisfied before I win against you and Kaiba as well, Yugi".

"Let's see if you are skillful enough to defeat us." Yugi challenged him with a smirk as well.

"Very well." Haga nodded at him, "I'm looking forward to our duel." He said before turning around and left he room.

"He's acting so high and mighty." Honda commented dryly as soon as Haga was out of earshot.

"Well, he think that he has the right to act like that since he is Japan Champ." Ryuuzaki shrugged, "He didn't aware that I was going easy on him." He then turned around as well, "If you are lucky enough, we might have a duel in the future as well, Yugi." He said from behind his shoulder before looking forward and left as well.

"Hmph." Jou snorted in annoyance as he crossed his arms, "They think they are better than anyone just because of winning a big league tournament, what a pair of arrogant brats".

"Don't mind them." Yugi grinned at him, "They will lose their attitude once they lost against a participant in this Duelist Kingdom, there are many Duelists out there who are more skillful than them but don't boast around, so their will taste their own medicine soon enough".

"You are right." Jou and Honda said together with a grin, knowing that Yugi being one of those skillful Duelists.

"Then, I'm off to trade cards as well, maybe I will get some good cards." Jou said before he went to the group of Duelists around the room.

"I will keep an eye on him." Honda said before going after Jou.

Yugi smiled to himself before going out again, he wanted to enjoy some fresh air and enjoy the scenery since it's rare for him to go travelling with a ship.

LINE~LINE~LINE

To be continued . . .

LINE~LINE~LINE

Froim : Review Please ^ ^


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Disclaimer : I Don't own Yu Gi Oh!**

_Thought / Dreams / Event from the past_

_[Voice from the past]_

'_Telepathic Voice'_

"_Spirit Talking"_

-Telephone-

Letter

"Dialogue"

**Emphasis**

_**Dangerous Tone**_

"So, what do you want to ask?" Mai asked as she sat on the sofa in the room, Anzu took a seat at the chair across from her.

"It's about Yugi." Anzu admitted, "He mostly kept to himself even around us, his friends." She explained slowly, hesitatingly.

"If you want to know more about him, you are asking the wrong person." Mai said calmly to her, "I had just met him, there's no way I know more about him than you, don't you think?".

"That might be true." Anzu agreed with a nod, "But you said your Aunt told you about him, right?" Mai nodded to that question, "Can you tell me about their relationship? He said it's alright if we asked around if we want to know about him, since he didn't really like talking about his past if it contains painful memory, unless he had to".

Mai sighed, "Indeed, his past with Aunt Maria was both filled with happy memories as well as the sad ones, not to mention it was considered as scandalous, so I can understand if he didn't want to talk about it." She said in understanding, "Well, you see . . ." She took a deep breath before telling Anzu what her Aunt had once told her, "My Aunt said that they met because she tried to do something stupid in the past. Her parents, who were also my Grandparents, told her a day after her 16th Birthday that she was arranged since birth to be married with someone from another family to maintain the friendship between their two families. Aunt Maria didn't think much about it since she was the obedient type girl who will follow her parent's words without as much of a fuss, so she just agreed to meet with her Fiance.

"At first, her Fiance, let's just say Mr. X since Aunt Maria didn't want to tell me his name, treated her sweetly like what most girls hope from their lover, but it was all a facade. My Aunt was a beautiful woman, she was also smart and kind, someone every man would hope to spend their life with, but Mr. X thought she was nothing more than an obedient doll to be used for money due to her being from a rich family. She found out about it the hard way. It happened a month after their marriage, during a month of their marriage, they had only made love on their first night of marriage and they slept in different parts of the mansion the rest after that, so my Aunt think that maybe Mr. X didn't love her and was also following what his parents wanted as well . . . but she then saw her own husband sleeping with another woman in his bedroom".

Anzu gasped as she heard that, "What a bastard!" She cursed furiously.

Mai scowled, "A bastard, indeed." She said in agreement, "Anyway, my Aunt confronted him about it and Mr. X so casually told her that the reason he married with her was to get his hand on her family's money, he had no love what-so-ever for her. Aunt Maria wanted to report it to her parents but Mr. X threatened that he would kill her if she did, she didn't dare to find out whether Mr. X really had the guts to kill her or not, so she kept quiet. For two years they had been going on like that, Mr. X played around with some sluts and spent Aunt Maria's money for useless stuffs, he even consumed drugs, and Aunt Maria would always hurting that she had to live with a bastard like that. She finally built up the courage and went to tell her parents about it, but Mr. X had anticipated it before hand and she found them dead".

"That man killed them?!" Anzu asked in disbelief, Mai nodded in answer, an angry scowl on her face.

"That man was just that low." Mai explained, "That man made it looked like an accident, so no one suspected him to be the murder. Aunt Maria fell into depression, what with her parents being dead and her own Husband being the killer, she didn't have anyone else left so she decided to kill herself by jumping off a cliff and into the sea".

Anzu gave a horrified gasp, "Suicide?" She asked in disbelief, "But . . . she didn't die, right? Or you wouldn't hear all of this from her".

Mai nodded, "That's right, she didn't die, because that's when she met Yugi, who that time goes by the name of Hoshikage Heba." She said with a smile, "Aunt Maria had just jumped off the cliff when she found herself hanging in the air with a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, she looked up and saw Yugi scowling at her." She then chuckled, "Their meeting, even if the reason was so dark, was a funny one".

"How is it so?" Anzu asked curiously.

Mai smiled at her, "Because as soon as their gaze met, instead of Yugi scolding Aunt Maria for her stupid action, she was the one who started yelling at Yugi." She chuckled, "She called him with any insulting words she could find for didn't let her die, she yelled that a demon like him should just let her die instead of saving her, which was quite a feat since she was shy and quiet by nature. Yugi listened until Aunt Maria stopped her rant and just stared at him breathlessly before he said his first sentence, 'Are you finish screaming my ear off, Beautiful Angel?' ".

"What?" Anzu asked in surprise before chuckling, "Yugi called her an Angel after screaming his ear off?".

Mai nodded, "My Aunt blushed when she heard that and stuttered, saying that she wasn't an Angel." She said with a fond smile, she remembered that she was in awe when she first heard the story, not anyone would call a girl as Beautiful Angel after the said girl screaming insult to them like that. "They calmed down and, after some coaxing from Yugi, Aunt Maria told him what had happened to cause her wanting to die. Yugi then helped her, slowly lifted her spirit up so she could appreciate life again, they were dating secretly and were happy together.

"But their happiness was disturbed when Mr. X found out that Aunt Maria had gave all of her money and properties to as many orphanages as she could find, she didn't want Mr. X to enjoy her money anymore, so she made it so that the man couldn't get his hand on the money again, leaving the man become poor. Aunt Maria was living with some money Yugi gave her since he had too much money until he didn't know what to do with them, and since they were lovers, they were fine with the fact that Maria was living with Yugi's money. Mr. X couldn't accept it and tried to kill Aunt Maria, but Yugi caught him in the act and threw him into the jail, finally." Mai said with a smirk, "Aunt Maria found out later that she was pregnant with Yugi's child, she gave birth exactly a year after Mr. X being put ito the jail, even if their relationship was a secret, but both were happy with each other." Her smirk disappeared and a sad frown on her face replacing the smirk, "I want to say that they live happily ever after, but I couldn't".

"What happened?" Anzu asked in worry.

"Not long after Rei's, Aunt Maria and Yugi's Son, 10th Birthday, he was kidnapped by a Rogue Vampire who held a grudge against Yugi for killing his Mate." Mai said sadly, earning a shocked gasp from Anzu, "The Rogue wanted to make Yugi feel the same pain as he was, so he tried to kidnap Aunt Maria and Rei before killing them right in front of Yugi's eyes, but a Vampire Hunter happened to be nearby and saved Aunt Maria. Aunt Maria informed Yugi about what had happened through their Mate Link, they could speak to each other from mind to mind, and Yugi promised her that he would save Rei." She let out a long sigh and tear began to fill her eyes, "As you could figure it out already, Yugi couldn't save Rei, he came too late and the Rogue already killed Rei by the time he arrived. Aunt Maria was heartbroken when she heard that and blamed Yugi and screamed at him to leave, saying that all of it was his fault".

"But It's not Yugi's fault!" Anzu protested with tear filled eyes, she couldn't believe that Yugi had gone through all that.

"Yeah, it wasn't." Mai said in agreement, "And Aunt Maria knew this, she regretted all that she said to Yugi not long after Yugi left, she wanted to find him and apologize, but Yugi was already so far away from her, he wasn't even in the country anymore".

"Yugi was avoiding Maria?" Anzu guessed, "I mean, you said earlier that Yugi was already gone by the time Maria arrived to wherever place she heard Yugi was at".

"I did say that, but Yugi didn't avoiding her, more like he didn't think that Maria would search for him at all, thinking that Maria hated him for what had happened to Rei." Mai explained, "Elvana, the Vampire Hunter who saved Aunt Maria, understood that Aunt Maria was too blind by her grief that she said all that, so she tried to help her searching for Yugi so they could fix their broken relationship. Do you know? Yugi is over 3000 years now, you could only imagine how strong his influence to the world is. Elvana said that Yugi is practically the owner of one third of the world, he was normally busy, but at that time, Yugi was mourning the death of his Son and was in pain because he thought that Maria hate him, so he made himself even busier until he didn't even have time for a proper sleep." She shook her head as she thought of how much Yugi had suffered all this years before she found the Vampire with Maria's letter in her hand, "Elvana had used her connection with the Vampire Hunter Guild to track down Yugi's location, but Yugi was all over the world, he would be in China one day and would be in Egypt the very next day, so it's very hard for them to find Yugi. When Elvana received news that Yugi would be in a country in a few days time, she would took Aunt Maria with her to find Yugi, but alas, Yugi already gone by the time they arrived, and it always repeated like that".

They fell in silence after Mai finished the story, both didn't know what to say, so the silence was an uneasy and awkward one. Anzu looked around to find something else to talk about when she saw Honda standing at the door with a sad expression, "Honda!" She gasped in surprise, "Since when are you in there?".

Honda sighed, "Yugi heard you asked Mai to tell you about what had happened, he asked me and Jou to come here if we want to know what had happened as well." He explained as he ran his hand through his hair, "We got here when Mai explained about the suicide part and were listening quietly until you finished with the story, we knew that Yugi would most likely listening as well since he could hear what's going on in this whole ship, so Jou went just now to try and cheer him up".

"Eh, he could hear us?" Mai asked in shock.

"Uh, I forgot that Vampire hearing is like a hundred times stronger than humans." Anzu said with pale face, she stood up, "I need to apologize to him!" She said before running out of the room.

"Wait, Anzu!" Honda cried out before chasing after her.

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3 ... 2 ... 1 . . .

"Hey, Yugi!" Jou called out as he ran towards Yugi, who was leaning on the railing while looking out at the vast sea all around him, just as Yugi finished counted down to when Jou would arrive.

"Hey, Jou." Yugi said with a smile, knowing that Jou wanted to cheer him up after listening to the story of his past, not that he needed to cheer Yugi anymore. He didn't feel pained when he remembered about his Mate and Son now, not after he met them and they had their talk.

"Yugi, look!" Jou pulled a few cards from his pocket, "I got these cards from trading." He said excitedly, trying to get Yugi's mind off of the sad story.

"Alright, let me see." Yugi said as he played along, he hummed when he saw what kind of cards in Jou's hand, "Salamandra, Kunai with Chain, Baby Dragon, and . . ." He raised an eyebrow and whistled, "Shield in the Right Hand, Sword in the Left Hand." He grinned at Jou, "Good cards, if you add them to your deck, your strategy would become stronger than before".

"Really?" Jou asked excitedly, Yugi nodded, "Yes! I will definitely win now!" He said as he stared at the cards he got.

"Winning a duel is not that simple." Yugi told him with an amused smile, he then pulled a card from the golden box which previously contained the pieces of Millennium Puzzle, but now he used the box as the contrainer of his Duel Monsters cards. "Here, for you".

Jou took the card and looked at it, "Time Wizard?" He asked as he read the name of the card.

Yugi nodded, "I'm sure it will help you out in critical moments." He said confidently.

"Wow, I will take it then. Thank you, Yugi." Jou said gratefully.

Yugi grinned at Jou before turning around, "Yes, Haga?" He asked right away, surprising the boy who had been walking quietly from behind Yugi and causing the said boy to halt in his step as if someone pushed a pause button.

Haga blinked rapidly at Yugi before regaining his composure, "I was just going to ask if you brought Exodia along with you." He said calmly with a creepy smile, "You beat Kaiba Seto with it, right?".

"Yeah, Jii-chan gave it to me before our duel, saying that it could help me win against Seto's three Blue Eyes." Yugi explained easily, "What's with that?".

"Can I see it?" Haga asked, "I have never seen someone managed to collect all five cards of Exodia The Forbidden One".

Yugi narrowed his eyes but pulled out the cards from the box, "Here." He showed them to Haga, "Be careful with them, I don't want to lose them. Not because of their power, but because Jii-chan gave them to me".

"Sentimental value, huh." Haga commented as he took the cards and looked at them with his creepy smile on, "I have been thinking of a way to defeat these cards, but I couldn't come up with anything." He said as he leaned on the railings, he then smirked at Yugi, "But I finally have one." He then dropped the cards into the sea, earning shocked and horrified gasp from Yugi and Jou, "Now you are no longer a worthwhile opponent!" He said with a laugh before walking away.

"You bastard!" Jou yelled at Haga before he jumped into the sea below.

"Jounouchi!" Yugi cried out in shock, "What do you think you are doing?!" He asked in horror.

"Exodia is an important card that Grandpa gave you, right? I will definitely get it back!" Jou yelled back before looking around for the cards.

"Yugi, what happened?!" Anzu called out as she finally found Yugi.

"Haga threw away Exodia into the sea, and Jou jumped after them to retrieve them!" Yugi explained as he hastily removed his waist back and dropped it to the table nearby, "Anzu, watch my stuffs!" He commanded before jumping to the sea as well.

"Yugi!" Anzu gasped in shock.

"He knows what he's doing." Honda told her reassuringly.

"Jou!" Yugi called out as he grabbed the boy, "Come on, let's go before you drown".

"No, I need to get the other three first." Jou refused as he looked around for the cards, the cold from the water started to slow his feet's movement, but he was too stubborn to just leave before he got all five cards of Exodia.

"You moronic, stubborn brat." Yugi growled in anger and worry as he grabbed the back of Jou's shirt before let his wings out, his massive black bat-like wings unfolded mightily before he flew them up onto the deck.

"Yugi!" Jou protested, "There still three of them in the sea!".

"Fine, **I** will get them back, and **you** just stay here, moron." He huffed before he stood at the railings, "I don't want you die for trying to do something outside of your capability!" He sent a glare at Jou before jumping back to the sea to retrieve the rest of the cards, his night vision helped him to see in the night as bright as he did in the day, so he was done in less than a minute.

Yugi landed onto the deck again and pulled in his wings, he then started coldly at Jou, "What did you think you are doing, Jou?" He asked angrily, "Didn't you know that you could die?".

Jou looked down, "I just want to get them back for you." He said with small voice, suddenly feeling like a kid being scolded by his elder, it might be what was happening at the moment since Yugi was way older than him.

"And throw away your life in the process?" Yugi demanded as he crossed his arms. He was dripping wet, but he didn't feel the cold like Jou did, who was shivering heavily at the moment. He saw that Jou was shivering and sighed, "Come on, let's get you dried up before you caught a cold." He said as he pulled Jou up from the floor and dragged the boy by his wrist, Anzu and Honda were following them silently while carrying Yugi's bag and golden box.

Yugi led them to his room which he gave to Mai earlier and knocked on the door, Mai opened the door before her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her, Yugi didn't pay attention to her though, as he let himself in before pushing Jou into the bathroom. "Get a warm shower, make sure your body stop shivering before you get out of there." Yugi said coldly before silently made his way out of the room, he walked to the room one room apart from Mai's room and opened the door without knocking, good thing that the door wasn't locked.

"Yugi!" Haga gasped in shock, "What is the meaning of this?!".

Yugi scowled at Haga as his normally warm amethyst eyes grew cold with silent fury, "The meaning of this is that I want to congratulate you." He said tonelessly as his eyes piercing right at Haga's eyes, "Congratulation, you managed to make me furious, Haga. As the reward, I will kick your ass out from the tournament as soon as it started." He then showed a dark smile, "I hope you will enjoy the experience of being the first person to be disqualified from a tournament. Good night, Insect Boy." And he simply slammed the door as hard as humanely possible, it wouldn't do if people found out about his identity as a Vampire after all.

He made his way to Mai's room and entered to find Jou already out of the bathroom and was wrapped with the bedcover, a staeroform cup filled with what smelled like coffee in his hands. Jou saw him and immediately put the cup down, "Yugi, I'm sorry." He apologized as he offered the two cards of Exodia that he managed to get, "I know you are angry that I acted so stubbornly, but I couldn't just let your precious cards to drown".

"Young One." Yugi said calmly as he ignored the cards, he inhaled deeply and crossed his arms, "Exodia might be precious to me since Jii-chan gave them to me, but do you think these cards precious enough to lose someone I love dearly?" He shook his head, "Nothing in this world is more precious than life itself, no matter how much of a sentimental value that an object has, you shouldn't just risk your life like this ever again." He narrowed his eyes, "Understood?".

Jou looked down at the floor and nodded, "I understand, but . . ." He looked up at Yugi, "Yugi, there are some things in this world that you've gotta protect with your life. Everyone has something that can't be replaced, precious things that can't be lost".

"Of course I know that." Yugi said softly as he looked at his Puzzle, "I myself would risk my life if it means this Puzzle would be safe, but what you did doesn't count, Jou." He looked at Jou seriously, "While it's true that Exodia is important to me, but your life is more important to me than Exodia, and besides, I can get them back on my own without endangering my life." He showed the three cards of Exodia in his hand to Jou, "What do you think I would feel if you lose your life because you are trying to retrieve these cards for me?" He shook his head sadly.

"Yugi . . ." Jou and the rest stared at Yugi sadly, "I . . ." Jou sighed and looked down, "I'm always like this, I can't help anyone, not you . . . and not even my Little Sister, Shizuka".

Yugi sat beside Jou, "Your Little Sister?" He asked softly.

Jou nodded miserably, "My parents got divorced when I was little, now she lives far away with my Mother." He explained sadly, "Shizuka was born with eye problem, one that is hard to cure even with an operation, and she would go blind one day if not treated. I got a video letter from her before I came here with the others, she said she wanted to see my face for one last time, so the doctor probably told her that it's time." He breathed a long sigh, "The most skilled doctors and advanced medical technology can only be found in Germany, if only she could go there . . . but I don't have that much money, even so, I want to try and get the money so Shizuka will be able to see again." He closed his eyes tightly and looked down, "But try as I might, I still couldn't get that much money in time".

"Jou." Anzu whispered in sympathy.

Mai fidgeted before clearing her throat, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I should be here." She said before walking to the door.

"It's alright, Mai." Yugi stopped her, "You are our friend too now, you can stay here if you want".

Mai hesitated before nodding and sat back on the bed, "I can understand how Jounouchi feels right now." She said quietly, "I was there when Aunt Maria breathed her last breath and I felt so helpless that I couldn't do anything to help at all".

They were silent again for a few seconds before Yugi looked at Mai, "You said Maria was your Aunt, but I didn't remember her having any sibling." He said in confusion.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you." Mai said sheepishly, "She was my Aunt because I'm the Daughter of her Husband's Sister, although my Mother also refused to tell me what her Brother's name was, probably too ashamed to even relate to that bastard".

"I see." Yugi said in understanding before sighing, "You know, I also can understand what you are feeling, Jou." He said softly, "I know that you were thinking of your Sister when you jumped to get my cards, but please don't do it again".

"I will." Jou promised with a sad smile, "I still don't understand though, why did you reacted like earlier, that was the first time I ever hear you growl or hiss like other Vampires." Yugi fell silent after hearing that, making Jou wonder if he said something wrong.

"It's because humans are so fragile, Jou. While their will is strong, their life is so short, they could die at any moment without notice. You, Anzu, Honda, and Mai are humans, I will lose you to death one day, but I want for that day to be as far away in the future as possible, because . . ." Yugi told him softly as tears began to fill his eyes, he inhaled deeply, "Well . . . Anzu told Mai that I mostly kept to myself, even around you guys as my friend, so I will tell you." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "When I was more or less 3 years old kid, I had to witness my own parents being killed right in front of my own eyes." He began, causing the rest to widen their eyes as they heard about the news, "When I was 6 years old, I got kidnapped from my home in Japan and I woke up in Egypt with most of my memories locked by magic, all I know was that my name's Yugi and I had a Grandfather, an Older Sister, an Older Brother, and an Older Cousin. I could speak Japanese but didn't remember anything relating to Japan, or who I really was for that matter.

"Someone found me and raised me up until I turned 10 before I, again, got kidnapped. Although, this time I was then saved a week later. I found a new family and not long after that I reunited with my blood family, I was very happy and content with my life and yet that happiness ripped from me when a war broke and most of new friends and family died with me being the helpless witness who couldn't do anything to protect them." Yugi looked at Jou, "That's why I can understand your feeling, because I too felt them, feeling so helpless that I couldn't do anything to help my loved ones. That's also why I reacted so badly when I thought that I was going to lose you, because I already lose too many people in my 3000 years of life, I don't want to lose anyone ever again. But it's the downside of being a Vampire, my human friends would die one day while I keep on living, and I would feel pain of losing them for each time I lose someone. I want to stay with you for as long as I could, that's why I will protect you, so you will live a long life, grow old and get your own happy family, and I can have many happy memories of you before you eventually left me".

"Yugi, I . . . I'm sorry, I promise I won't do anything so recklessly again." Jou promised, he felt bad that he scared Yugi like that. Yugi had lose so many people that he hold dear in just 10 years of his life, with him being 3000 years old now, he could only imagine how many people Yugi had lose to death, he didn't want for Yugi to feel such a pain anytime soon.

"Make sure you keep that promise." Yugi said with a smile, before that smile grew into a big grin, "You know what? I already said I want everyone that I care to be happy, so here." He pulled out a Star chip from his waist bag and offered it to Jou. 

"Yugi . . ." Jou whispered in awe as he took the Star chip, "But, why?".

"You said you want to try and get the money for Shizuka's operation, right?" Yugi asked cheerfully, "Go for it then, try to win in this tournament and get the prized money".

"But . . . you promised Kaiba that you will duel Pegasus in case he lose, how will you duel Pegasus if you don't win the tournament?" Jou asked in confusion.

"Well, I can always pull some string so Pegasus won't have another choice but to duel against me." Yugi said with a dark smirk, "Just like what Mai said, you don't know just how much my influence to the world is, so you might find yourself shocked when you find out".

"I was shocked whe I found it out." Mai said dryly, "If my heart was weak, I might already got an attack when I found it out".

"Oh, you already found out?" Yugi asked with a chuckle, "Well then, feel free to ask if you need a help in doing something".

"I sure will." Mai promised with a smirk.

"Anyway, Jou." Yugi turned to Jou again, "Even if I said to go for it, but there are many skilled Duelists in this tournament, including myself and Mai." He motioned to Mai, who nodded in agreement, "I don't want to scare you, but you might lose against one of them if you don't think your dueling strategy carefully".

"Yugi, you really scaring me now." Jou said with a sweat drop.

"Good, the you won't make any rush decision in a duel then." Yugi said smugly, "Just don't get too stressed. It's good if you have something to fight for, like you being in this tournament to get the prized money for Shizuka, but if you thik about it too much until you are stressed the you won't be able to think clearly. Win your way to the top for Shizuka but also enjoy your duel with anyone you are facing, that's an advise that I can give you." He smiled supportingly at him, "Go for it, okay?".

Jou looked at Yugi for a long minute before jumped up, "Yosh!" He cried determinedly, "I will give it my best! Wait for me, Shizuka!".

"That's the spirit, Jou!" Honda said with a smirk as he lightly punched Jou's shoulder.

"Gambatte (Do your best), Jou!" Anzu cheered him on.

"Well, it's always fun to have a new challenger." Mai said as she looked at Jou, "We will see if we will duel each other during the finals".

"Thank you, everyone." Jou said with a smile, "I will give it my all, definitely!".

They smiled at each other before Yugi sneezed, "Geez, Yugi, you told Jou to get a warm shower and here you are still in that drenched clothes." Anzu scolded him, "Hurry up and get a warm shower!" She pointed at the bathroom.

"Yes, yes." Yugi said as he hurriedly to the bathroom, "What a mother hen".

"Yugi!" Anzu yelled with a blush on her face while the rest laughed.

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To be continued . . .

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Froim : Review Please ^ ^


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